William Pitt Byrne

^[1] William Pitt Byrne (c. 1806 – 6 or 8 April 1861) was a British newspaper editor and proprietor of The Morning Post.

He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with a BA and M.A. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1835 and called to the bar in 1839 but never practised law.^[2]

His father Nicholas Byrne was his predecessor as editor and proprietor of the Morning Post, about whom there is little biographical information in the historical record. Nicholas Byrne took a strongly pro-Conservative editorial stance, and his son was named after William Pitt the Younger. He was mysteriously attacked by a masked intruder around 1833 and never fully recovered, dying of his injuries about two years later.^[3][4][5]

His mother was the Gothic novelist Charlotte Dacre, who had three children with Nicholas: William Pitt Byrne (born 1806), Charles (born 1807) and Mary (born 1809); however the children were not baptised until 1811 and Nicholas and Charlotte did not marry until 1 July 1815.^[3][4] William Pitt Byrne was baptised on 8 Jun 1811 at St. Paul's, Covent Garden.^[6]

He married the writer Julia Clara Busk on 28 April 1842.^[7] Her books were sometimes attributed to "Mrs. William Pitt Byrne",^[8] and for this reason some sources (particularly online book sellers) mistakenly attribute authorship of her books to her husband.

He broadened the focus of the Morning Post from being a mostly political journal by including more general topics. He ended his connection with the paper prior to his death to follow literary pursuits, contributing to leading journals.^[5]

After his death, his wife and friends built a memorial fountain in his name in 1862 or 1863, at the south end of Bryanston Square in London; the fountain is still in existence and is a Grade II listed monument.^[9] The fountain has an associated plaque.^[10]

He was buried in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green in London.^[5]

• Obituary in The Times, 10 April 1861, cited in Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses.